6 ‘Turn-off’ Features When Your Home Is For Sale

Is your house currently on the market or are you looking to put it up for sale shortly? While every buyer has their own preferences and criteria for their purchase, here are a list of general complaints which most buyers share.

1. Clingy Sellers

Letting go of a home can be extremely hard, especially if it is a family home or has memories embedded in its foundations. But once the decision to sell has been reached, you must commit.

Allow your agent flexibility to do their job, and potential buyers the space they need to bite the hook of home ownership. Lingering during an inspection and telling inspectees about the stories and sentimental value of every last inch of the house will turn most prospects away. Even if your stories are full of excitement or very informative about the house, you need to remember that the sale of your house is a transaction, stay as objective as possible.

2. Dirt

A property that is not well presented can often be the crux of a sale. If buyers walk into a house full of dust, dirt and clutter, they will leave with the impression that the house always remains in this condition. An easy way to avoid this, is to hire a professional cleaner or even a home stager. A thorough clean of the entire property, including the little crevices that rarely get attention will go a long way.

Living areas, backyards, bathrooms and toilets should gain extra attention. When it comes to selling your property, cleaning is something that you can’t overdo, properties that merely look neat and tidy are not enough for the current market, especially if your property is marketed towards luxury buyers. If you would like recommendations for cleaners, stagers or a multitude of other services, please do not hesitate to contact us.

3. Smells

The sense of smell is often overlooked in the sale of your home, but it can have a large impact on a buyers first impression. Before an inspection, creating a set of inviting smells can be extremely effective. They are also helpful when attempting to mask unpleasant ones.

One of the most common ‘turn-off’ smell is the lingering scent of your pet. While to you, this may be a welcoming smell when you come home, to a potential buyer, it’s a turn-off. Other turn-offs include, cigarette smoke, mustiness, food and overpowering perfume or incense. Less is more when it comes to smells, remember this when preparing your property.

4. Clutter

Most of us don’t keep our property in sale condition all year round, so usually, properties need more than a quick spruce. Strategic and systematic decluttering, starting with the focal points of a home such as the kitchen and living room, and then moving slowing out until most to all of the property has been decluttered.

Recently there has been a surge in popularity of professional organisers. Most professional organisers will take a flat fee depending on the amount of organizing and decluttering there is to do. If you are overwhelmed with all the loose ends of selling a property or work long hours, then this may be a worthwhile option. Marie Kondo might become your new idol.

5. Temperature

Ever heard of Goldilocks and the three bears? Just like Goldilocks prefers her porridge at the ‘just-right’ temperature, potential buyers prefer the ‘just-right’ house temperature. While it may not be a deal breaker, it does invite pointy questions which are best to avoid such as “Does the heating or cooling work properly?” or “Is it always this hot?”.

Especially in summer, this second question can be a very large turn-off, if for what ever reason your house is extremely hot, flick on the aircon before an inspection or open up the windows for an easterly breeze. Do whatever you can to lower your temperature to a comfortable level.

6. No Photos

Would you spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, creating for a lot of us, the most amount of debt we will ever have, only to buy sight unseen? Photos are the single most powerful tool to attract potential buyers to your inspection. Photos allow people to envisage themselves living in the house or to help determine the value of the property as an investment.

Are you wanting some advice on how to best present your home for sale? Send me a message HERE, and we can get you rolling in the right direction.